Would you look for another master motivator, someone able to coax more career-best performances out of young players and veteran fill-ins? Would you follow the mold of the previous field general, a strong but silent type with an eye for confidence swoons and enthusiastic home run cuts?

Or would you think to yourself "if I, the head of baseball operations, assembled a roster so adept at both creating and preventing runs that still managed to finish distantly behind the playoff clubs, maybe I should seek a different kind of manager." After all, if my team is able to hang with the best in the game yet cannot manage to win the games they shouldn't, or even get the most out of the available talent.

Do I go with an established field boss or a loyal lieutenant with experience in the ringer? Do I stay mum on the process and watch the leeches and opportunists throw their hats in the ring?

Either way, it's a pretty big decision to make. Or it isn't, at all. One of the those two things. Depends on your perspective.

5 comments:

Over on Twin Span to Nowhere I made the case for Bobby Valentine. It seems like he got a lot out of guys who were inferior to the Jays' lineup (maybe save for Piazza in his prime). And I'd take our current rotation over those Mets starters every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Seems like Valentine could get more out of this group, wouldn't go for small ball, and would be a great fit for the city.

At the risk of tooting our own horn:http://twinspantonowhere.blogspot.com/2010/10/case-for-bobby-v.html

I can't say I know much about Bobby V but in my efforts to hastily judge him based on whatever information I could glean from a two-minute glance at his Wikipedia page, I came across this gem:

In the 12th inning of a 14 inning marathon with the Toronto Blue Jays, Mike Piazza was called for catcher's interference on Craig Grebeck. Valentine was ejected by home plate umpire Randy Marsh for arguing the call, and returned to the dugout an inning later in a disguise (a fake moustache). Unamused, Major League Baseball fined Valentine $10,000 and suspended him for three games. The Mets went on to win the game 4-3.

Bobby Valentine would never get a work visa for Canada because he's got several felonies on his rap sheet. His crime? Stealing the hearts and minds of far too many dopey Mets fans who somewhat shockingly want to see him get rehired.